


Breakfast

by KitiaraM



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-09
Updated: 2011-05-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 03:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitiaraM/pseuds/KitiaraM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a drabble... and oddly enough, written before we knew about the Baron's fascination with waffles...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakfast

**Author's Note:**

> Girl Genius and characters belong to Phil and Kaja Foglio. This was merely for fun.

Gil swallowed, hard. "Uh, oh," he muttered under his breath. He hadn't even had breakfast yet, and now this. His father's face was taking on that purplish tinge that presaged a truly epic explosion. He winced, waiting for it. He wasn't disappointed.

"What in the name of all the seven hells is this?!?!" Klaus' hand hit the table, jangling crockery ten feet down. He propelled himself upward as he pounded, the better to loom over Gil. The ship's engineer had already fled.

Gil steeled himself. He wasn't a child anymore. He shouldn't let his father browbeat him about things before he knew the whole story. He was an adult, a powerful Spark in his own right, his own man, a--oh, who was he kidding. All Klaus had to do was draw those craggy brows into a thunderous expression, lips pursed into a terrible frown, and Gil's knees suddenly tried to abdicate. 

Still, this time it wasn't Gil that Klaus was mad at. Agatha should have known better than to try to "improve" things on Klaus' ship without his permission. However, Agatha wasn't here right now, and Gil was. And his father was used to yelling at him. He'd like to say that he was used to his father yelling at him, but as the decibels rose, he decided that each occasion was different. Worse. 

Maybe if he tried to explain. His father was a reasonable man. A fair man. OK, so he was a ruthless despotical tyrant. He was a fair, ruthless despotical tyrant. Gil repressed a sigh. Unfortunately, once Klaus got into full rage mode, he didn't listen very well. Gil would just try to keep the two of them apart until Klaus calmed down. 

"Good morning, Klaus!" Agatha's cheery voice sounded behind him, and Gil mentally groaned. He eyed the windows. Too bad they were welded shut, after the incident with the waffles. The only other way out of the room was through the door Agatha had just entered. There was no way to sneak out. He eyed the table thoughtfully. The tablecloth went almost all the way to the floor. He slid down a bit in his chair. 

"Agatha!" Klaus' voice boomed. "What have you done to my ship!?" Gil looked over his shoulder. Oh no. Zeetha was right behind Agatha. If she decided that Agatha needed protection from Klaus, things could get very messy, very quickly. He stood up. 

"Ah, Father, perhaps we should all discuss this like calm, rational"

"SILENCE! YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO, BOY!" Gil's hair stirred in the breeze of Klaus' explosion. By now Klaus had worked himself into a fine fury. His veins were popping, his muscular neck corded with rage. Gil had succeeded in turning his attention from Agatha. To himself. Oh, joy. 

"IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE'S EVEN HERE! IF YOU WERE THE MAN YOU SHOULD BE, SHE'D--" Gil shut his eyes and ears, having heard this refrain far too many times. He opened them as a loud *crack* echoed through the room. His eyes popped open to see something very few people had ever seen: Klaus Wulfenbach taken aback. A red handprint showed on his cheek. Gil sucked in his breath. Klaus would kill her! He had to do something! But his mind was totally blank. 

Agatha was still glaring at Klaus, her hands on her hips. "You leave Gil alone! He had nothing to do with this, it was MY idea!" Klaus' shock was wearing off; Gil only had moments to act. His mind raced, but every option he could think of led to even more disaster. 

He was distracted as Agatha's expression changed, her anger dying into uncertainty. "I, I just wanted to do something special for you, for y-your birthday." Her lip quivered. 

Gil risked a look at Klaus. Agatha's abrupt change in manner had taken him by surprise. He stood open-mouthed, one hand still raised to his cheek, staring at Agatha. She sniffed, blinking rapidly. "I wanted it to be a surprise, and you hate it, and I've screwed everything up, again!" Her eyes welled, and one big tear slowly slid down her cheek. 

Klaus blinked as she continued, his confused expression turning to embarrassment. "I just thought you'd like having the castle's engine efficiency improved by 11%! I should have known that wouldn't impress you," she looked up at Klaus through wet lashes. "I'm sorry, Klaus, I'll go put everything back the way it was." She turned slowly, head hanging, the picture of dejected humiliation.

"Er, wait, um, Agatha," Klaus harrumphed. Gil stared. He'd never seen his father at a loss for words before. Klaus reached out and laid a hand on Agatha's shoulder, turning her back to face him. "Er, 11%, you said?" Agatha nodded, eyes huge. "Hah! That chief engineer swore he couldn't improve them anymore! I just haven't had time to go down there myself and rectify the matter. Was it the rotor blades? I'm sure we could have reduced the friction coefficient if we'd just--" 

Gil relaxed back in his chair as Klaus and Agatha fell deep into discussion. Before long they were writing formulas on the tablecloth, arguing over theoretical atmospheric conjugations. As he reached for the muffins, a movement caught the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see a white paw disappearing back over the edge of the table by Klaus' chair. Gil's eyes narrowed. What was Krosp up to now?

Absentmindedly, Klaus reached for his coffee cup. Gil blinked. That coffee cup had not been there a moment before. Klaus took a sip, started to finish his sentence to Agatha, and paused. He took a longer sip. He blinked. And then, Klaus Wulfenbach, tyrant of the European world...

Smiled.

"You know, that is very good coffee."


End file.
